The present invention relates to a building drum for tires and cylindrical articles having axially spaced beads.
Building drums for building tires are well known. Many types, styles, and arrangements are in common use, and even more are described in numerous patents. Some known building drums accommodate only one width, that is, provide no means for adjusting the axial face width of the drum to suit different spacings between the beads of a tire to be built thereon. Other building drums provide means for adjusting the axial face width to accommodate tires of differing axial widths between beads. The width adjustable building drums, however, require that some part or parts be moved axially relative to other parts of the drum and in consequence require an interruption of and time lost from the potential productivity of the building drum.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple, low cost building drum suitable for use in building a variety of tires and like articles having a given bead diameter with beads thereof spaced apart axially of the tire at any selected distance within the range of a particular drum, and without moving any part of the drum axially relative to any other part or otherwise reassembling the drum. A tire of one width can be built immediately following a tire of a different width without delay or interruption. A building drum according to the invention is likewise useful for building airsprings and other cylindrical articles having axially spaced beads therein.
The drum according to the present invention is not adapted for shaping tires or such articles from their cylindrical form as built to a toroidal or other radially expanded tire shape.